NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT

This report assesses progress toward Goal 8 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which focuses on providing support for strategies to reduce forest emissions. The assessment highlights a significant imbalance between 'green' finance aligned with forest goals and 'grey' finance that potentially drives deforestation, noting that international public and private investments in sustainable forestry remain insufficient compared to the scale of the challenge.

• There is a massive disparity between finance that supports forest protection and finance that potentially harms forests. 'Green' finance aligned with Goal 8 is approximately USD 16 billion, while 'grey' finance in the land use sector is roughly USD 777 billion.
• International public mitigation finance for the forestry sector is small relative to other sectors. Between 2010 and 2015, USD 3.6 billion was committed to forestry (with 65% going to high-deforestation countries), whereas other sectors received USD 167 billion in mitigation finance.
• Domestic public investment in REDD+ strategies in certain middle-income countries can exceed international support. For example, between 2010 and 2015, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ghana, and Chile planned government allocations of USD 8 billion, USD 1 billion, USD 53.7 million, and USD 36.9 million respectively.
• Private investment in 'business as usual' farming and forestry is estimated at USD 168 billion annually. Traditional private investment in these sectors within deforestation countries is estimated to be more than 50 times greater than the combined public and private international support aligned with Goal 8.
• Financial institutions are increasingly adopting deforestation risk policies, but implementation and transparency are lacking. While over one-third of institutions have commitments to remove deforestation for at least one commodity, many policies are recommendations rather than requirements, and few banks disclose actions taken against violating clients.
• Private capital for forest-relevant impact investments (sustainable food/fiber, habitat conservation, and water protection) grew by 62 percent over two years. Between 2004 and 2015, nearly USD 2.7 billion was committed in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, representing just over one-third of global commitments in these sectors.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2018). NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2017Goal8.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT. 2018. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2017Goal8.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT |date=2018 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2017Goal8.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2018new, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2018}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2017Goal8.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }